4EL Pros and Cons


This page will be used to gather information for your project. As you read through material on the Internet and in books, you will record the facts for both pro and con on this page. You will also add the resource for your information through an Internet link or the title of your print resource.


Pros:
  • It produces 18 gigawatts of hydroelectric power with 26 generators and 32 turbines.
  • Reservoir lets 10,000 tons ocean freighters sail directly into the nation's interior for 6 months in 1 year.
  • It can block floods and give electricity. People claim that 1 million people lived in the last 100 years.
  • Dams can store rain water or water directly from the river itself. Just, in case of a drought, the dam will still have a relatively constant supply of water.
  • Producing Power.
  • Controls flooding & provides recreational activities such as boating fishing and swimming, if the lake is not being used for drinking water (Dam Society).
  • If needed, dams can be shut down instantly, where thermal plants take hours, and nuclear plants can take days! (Dam Society).
  • China has undertaken the greatest project since building the Great Wall of China and the Grand Canal.
  • It can generate electricity equal to about 40,000,000 tons of coal.
  • Hydroelectricity is better than coal burning because it doesn't cause more global warming.
  • Provides 18 new clear power-plant electricity.
  • If the next flood happens without the dam, the government officials will lose 30,000,000,000 yuan.
  • Carry lots of boats.
  • Ocean going ships 10000 tons will be able to dock at Chongqing.
  • It will provide a about ten percent electricity to China to the next century.
  • Control water and stop floods in the lower part.


Cons:
  • If it fails it will waste 180 billion RMB ($26 billion).
  • The dam will kill a lot of unique species in the Yangtze River.
  • Since the dame is built in a earth-quake point it might even cause a earthquake because of the reservoir.
  • Hydroelectric power production require flooding of entire valleys and scenic areas.
  • Disrupts natural seasonal changes in he river, and ecosystems can be destroyed.
  • Ends flooding that help to clean out the silt in rivers, causing them to clog (Energy Laboratory).
  • The silt that usually flows down to the beaches and estuaries is block by the dam.
  • Dams can break in a massive flash flood.
  • More than 2 million people have to move if it is built.
  • Major problem-EARTHQUAKE ZONE!
  • They knock down houses using dynamites so they can build the dam's reservoir.
  • Cover 13 existing towns and cities
  • 800000 people will have to move
  • Lower part of Chongqing will disappear
  • Farmers have to leave fertile land.



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